The novel “Devil's Dolls” is an example of “art history prose” little known to the reader by N.S. Leskova (1831-1895). The novel has a complex creative history. For a long time it was considered unfinished. Its first part, published in the magazine “Russian Thought” in 1890, was subsequently published with the subtitle “Chapters from an Unfinished Novel”, the second remained unknown. It was discovered in the writer’s creative manuscripts only in the 1970s. The idea of this work dates back to the 1870s, and reflects Leskov’s thoughts about the character of the contemporary Russian man, who, under the pressure of social circumstances, loses the ability to express his will, i.e., in the writer’s words, becomes a “devil’s doll.” Final text 1890 - a pamphlet depiction of the Nicholas era, which serves as a background for posing a number of problems that are relevant in the history of world art and are closely related to criticism of the totalitarian regime, which had a detrimental effect on the fate of Russian art. The main characters of the novel evoke obvious associations with Emperor Nicholas I and the artist K.P. Bryullov. The novel is being published in its entirety for the first time. CONTENTS: Part one 5 Part two. Rough edition 74Part three 160Part four 189ADDITIONSSketches of the first chapters entitled “Devil's dolls” 215Devil's doll. Fantastic story (“We had lunch an hour later than usual...”) 215Devil's dolls. Fantastic story (“We were three comrades, and we were not only comrades, but also friends...”) 216Devil's dolls. Novel. Part one. Rhapsodies (“A cruel winter blizzard was raging outside...”) 229* * * (“The full moon, standing high in the cloudless summer sky...”) 246Devil's dolls. Tale (“On the left bank of the Oka, downstream...”) 251Devil's dolls. Fantastic story (“In a small circle of Russians gathered at foreign healing waters...”) 255Devil's dolls. Fantastic story (from the stories of retired navy captain Berintov) (“In a small circle of Russians who gathered abroad on the waters ...”) 261 APPENDICES: A. A. Shelaeva. Creative history of the novel “Devil's Dolls” by N. S. Leskov 269Textological passport of the published part of the novel “Devil's Dolls” 308Comments 321List of illustrations 356List of abbreviations 358Index of names 359